Government in power by force: BNP

It says no Bangladeshi intruded into India after Liberation War

BNP leaders and activists from a human chain in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka on Wednesday demanding release of the party chairperson Khaleda Zia. — Sourav Lasker

Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Wednesday alleged that the government had been continuing with their rule forcibly by controlling the judiciary, administration, police department and the press.

Addressing a pre-scheduled human chain cum rally in front of the National Press Club in the capital demanding the party chairperson Khaleda Zia’s immediate and unconditional release, senior BNP leaders alleged that the Awami League government kept her detained to remain in power illegally.

They alleged that the AL government grabbed power by ‘looting votes’ in the night following December 29, 2018 though the national election was scheduled for December 30, 2019 and remained in power by robbing people›s rights to vote and had jailed Khaleda before the election.

They said that common people would have resisted the unending injustice if Khaleda were free.

Khaleda has been in jail since February 8, 2018, the day when she was sentenced in a graft case by a special court in Dhaka. She is now undergoing treatment at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University since April 1, 2019.

Several thousand leaders and activists from different areas of Dhaka carrying banners and festoons joined the demonstration.

Addressing the rally, the party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir protested against the statements of Assam’s minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders who claimed that the people whose names were dropped from Assam›s National Register of Citizens were Bangladeshis.

A number of Indian media outlets carried reports quoting Bharatia Janata Party leaders in the Indian state of Assam and elsewhere saying those dropped from the NRC were Bangladeshis who intruded into India and they would be sent back.

Assam published its NRC on August 31 dropping about 19 lakh people, most of whom are Bangla-speaking.

‘We are now facing threats from our neighbouring country›s Assam that Bangladeshis had intruded there and they would be sent back. We clearly want to say no Bangladeshi intruded into India after the country›s Liberation War,› Fakhrul argued.

‹A deep-rooted conspiracy has been hatched to endanger Bangladesh,› he alleged.

He criticised the Awami League government for their failure to send Rohingya people back to their country even in two years.

Now the government was unable to solve the Rohingya crisis as it neither had courage nor any competency regarding the issue. The failure to solve the Rohingya crisis was due to the submissive foreign policy, he alleged.

BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed alleged that the courts were not able to work freely due to government control and stressed the need for greater movement to free the party chairperson.

Another standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy termed the government a ‘monster’ and said that the party needed to wage a greater movement to oust the ‘monster’ to free Khaleda.